MEDIAL TORSION OF THE LEG

Abstract

Although volumes have been written about the deformities of the leg, almost no clinical attention has been given to torsional deformities of the developmental type. If the observations reported here are correct, these deformities not only bear a genuine academic interest but are of considerable clinical importance. In fact, one must give recognition to these deformities if one is to explain certain phenomena associated with lateral bowing of the legs which cannot be properly explained by the mechanics of a lateral bend. The torsional abnormality is likewise needed to account for the failure of standard therapeutic procedures in the correction of well known deformities of the feet. The studies were made on patients seen in the clinic for rickets of the Johns Hopkins pediatric service. The clinic material includes nonrachitic children with abnormalities of gait and posture, as well as those with the rachitic caricatures of physiologic curves, who supply